Rights watchdog for Chihuahua is released by Customs and Border Protection

EL PASO -- The Chihuahua state human-rights investigator who was taken into custody last week by Customs and Border Protection agents, who apparently wanted him to seek political asylum for his safety, was released Wednesday afternoon.

Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson was released about 4 p.m. after spending almost a week at the El Paso Processing Center on Montana Avenue.

de la Rosa will provide details of his detention and release today at a news conference at the Border Network for Human Rights center in Central El Paso.

On Oct. 15, de la Rosa was crossing at the Paso del Norte Bridge to visit friends when officers recognized him as a human-rights activist and questioned him, said his lawyer, Carlos Spector.

Spector said the border officials asked de la Rosa whether he was afraid to be in Mexico because of his work. Spector said de la Rosa told the agents that he was afraid but that he did not want asylum.

Recently, de la Rosa said he could document 170 instances in which Mexican soldiers extorted, kidnapped, tortured, beat or killed innocent people while deployed in the state of Chihuahua to control the drug-related violence that has gripped the state since 2008.

de la Rosa also said none of those cases were being prosecuted by the Mexican government, and he added that he was afraid for his safety and that of his family.

When asked what was de la Rosa's violation that led to his being held by U.S. authorities, U.

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S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Roger Maier said his agency could not reveal information in this case because of privacy concerns.

However, Maier said it's a policy for CBP officers to interview and determine whether a person who is trying to come into the U.S. has the proper documents.

"If during this interview, an applicant expresses fear of being returned to their home country, our officers are required to process them for an interview with an asylum officer," Maier said.

CBP agents are not authorized to determine or evaluate the validity of the fear expressed, he added. But once this issue is established, the person is turned over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a fear interview with an asylum officer.

"The applicant does not have to specifically request asylum," Maier said. "They simply must express fear of being returned to their country."